Safety-swingletree.



No. 771,810. PATBNTED OCT. 11, 1904.

1 P. T. CHRISTENSEN.

SAFETY SWINGLETREE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 25. 1904.

N0 MODEL.

WITNESSES.-

. 1N VEN TOR WM,\\ fizz-R fimjms Ga 25 TEJVSEM v y B Y d6, 9 6

I A TTORNE UNITED STATES Patented October 1 1, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

PETER THOMAS CHRISTENSEN, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TOH. C. A. RASMUSSEN, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

SAFETY-SWINGLETREE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 771,810, dated October11, 1904.

Application filed January 25, 1904. Serial No. 190,452. (No model.)

To (ZZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PETER THOMAS CHRIS- TENSEN, a subject of the King ofDenmark, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State ofOhio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSafety-Swingletrees; and I do declare that the following is a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, which will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in safety-swingletrees; and theobject of the invention is to provide a whiffletree or swingletree withdraft connections which may be released by the driver in case of arunaway or other accident requiring release of the horse, allsubstantially as shown and described, and particularly set forth in theclaims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective viewof theswingletree and a portion of a doubletree. Fig. 2 is a longitudinalsectional plan view of a part of the swingletree with its safety partsin working position, and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the metallicportion of the said mechanism for one end of the swingletree.

Referring to the drawings, A represents a swingletree, and B adoubletree to which it is attached by a set of parallel plates 6. Theseplates might be substituted by an ordinary clip or the like of suchconstruction as to make substantially the same connection as is affordedby the plates 6. Both ends of the swingletree are supposed to beconstructed and equipped alike, so that the description of one end willanswer for both.

C is a draft-hook horizontally pivoted between the twoforwardly-projecting ears d of the head D, which is sleeved upon andriveted or otherwise fastened to the wooden portion of the swingletree.The hook C in using position projects directly to the rearward, as seenin Fig. 2, and has a substantially parallel rearwardly-projecting shank0 behind its pivot c of about the same length in this instance as thehook itself, and the head D has an open passage through from frontto'rear outside the end of the wooden portion of the swingletree, inwhich is located a locking-lever G, pivoted at g in said slot or slottedhead and having a head g of its own at right angles behind its pivot atsubstantially right angles to its stem and in position to normallyengage the inner end portion of projection c on the hook.

The using position of all the parts is shown in Fig. 2, and in thisposition the hook is open sufliciently to engage and disengage the draftchain or trace. (Not shown.) A spring 9 bears against lever G and holdsit normally in locking position with hook C, and the said lever projectsto the rear of the swingletree a suflicient distance to attach asuitable cord H, which runs over a small sheave or roller it between theplates 7) or within the clip of the doubletree and runs thence to suchother point within reach of a person in the buggy or wagon, where it maybe pulled and the lever G swung upon its pivot sufficiently to disengagehook C and let the animal go free. Then as the said cord H and lever areagain released from the hand the spring g asserts itself and throws thesaid lever into its proper locking position. The hook can then be swungback to Working position past lever G, Where it is in readiness for use,as before, and projection or shank cof the hook has an inclined edge 0facilitating this movement. Edge 0 also abuts against an inclined face41 and limits the back movement of hook C.

When hook C is in locked position, lever Gr bears against edge d of thehead D, although the strain is borne more by pivot-pin g, because of thesubstantially right-angled engaging relation of head g and projection c.

What I claim is 1. In safety devices for swingletrees, a swingletreehaving a head on its end provided with a transverse slot open throughthe head from front to rear, a hook pivoted in said head on projectionsforward of said slot and a locking-lever in said slot engaging the hookand holding it closed, said lever extending through said transverse slotbeyond the rear thereof, and means to actuate said lever connected withits rear end, substantially as described.

2. A swingletree havinga head on its end, with parallelforwardly-projecting portions (Z, a hook supported in ahorizontalposition pivotally between said projections and having a rearwardextension 0, a lever pivoted in said head and engaged with extension 0on said hook back of its pivot-point, and means to rotate said lever onits pivot and release said hook, substantially as described.

3. In swingletrees, a head for the end of a swingletree havingforwardly-disposed parallel projections at its outer end and a sleeveportion to engage over the end of the swingletree, a hook pivotedbetween the said projections and having an extension behind its pivotlying between said projections, a lever pivconnected with the rear endof said lever to disengage the same, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I sign this specification in the presence of twowitnesses.

- PETER THOMAS CHRISTENSEN. Witnesses:

R. B. MosnR, C. A. SELL.

